I consider my basic go to sock pattern to be Michelle Molis’ Basic Sock pattern and have been knitting it, happily, for over 10 yrs. It is, quite frankly, perfect. Easy mindless knitting that results in perfectly fitting socks for my feet. However the re-release of Nancy Bush’s Folk Socks, updated etc etc, had me pulling out my tattered copy of the book from ’94. Well I believe I purchased my copy in ’95 or ’96 but either way the not updated version is what I own. I had the good fortune to take a class many years ago with Nancy Bush at a Stitches Midwest and find her to be an excellent and generous teacher. This comes through clearly in her books. She is a passionate about her knitting and a really proliferate designer. Although I have been knitting close to 40 yrs now {off and on} I am still able to learn little things from her projects. Not so with this pattern:
A Classic Sock from Folk Socks: The History and Techniques of Handknitted Footwear by Nancy Bush
The yarn was purchased in March of 2005 on a trip to Memphis with the ex-husband. We had gone to Memphis to celebrate our 10 yr anniversary and while there we met a fellow knitter and did a yarn shop visit. It is Mountain Colors Bearfoot sock yarn in Mountain Twilight color way. I believe this particular color way is discontinued. At first I was very upset to learn I could get no more of this color but as soon as I put it in the sink I understood. The water turned violet and even as I was rinsing the third time the water run off was vividly violet. Very non stable but gorgeous. I am glad I didn’t consider using it for a two color project. Here are a few more pictures of the sock to show color variations… it is mainly purple with some flashes of a raspberry color shooting through it:
I also tried retaking some photos of Retro Prep to show off the color of that better. The tweed yarn makes my camera go crazy but I felt so bad about the fuzzy blob from last post.
Retro Prep side shaping
This was the first sweater I put in side shaping on. I have actually been rather interested in how sweater trends wax and wane…. just like any other fashion item I guess. I recall oh over 10 yrs or so ago people starting to complain about how boxy dropped shoulder sweaters were so unflattering on every single body type and more fitted sweater patterns were becoming more common. Being short and kinda round I resisted the whole shaping of the waistline for fear I would place it incorrectly although I had no problems putting in a modified if not full on sleeve cap. Recently I have noticed a trend towards boxy drop shouldered sweaters popping up on my Ravelry friend’s feed. I think one sweater that was recently released has 16″ of ease. Anyway just something I noticed and have been thinking about lately. As I mentioned last time I have gained some weight since I started this sweater and I had made it with the intention of it having the ever popular at the moment slight negative ease with shaping thrown in. Well the slight negative ease is now too much negative ease so it is folded and set aside for hopefully next winter:
Retro Prep all folded up for storage
Ah! I forgot to take a picture of my current project. One of the WIP I had listed in January was Rock Island Shawl which I had purchased the lovely yarn for in April ’11. It had a beautiful purple Lorna’s Laces Helens Lace that came out at the same time called Grand Street Ink and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. The shawl not so much but the color… Oh My. Well I immediately got in touch with The Loopy Ewe, then local to me, and purchased the kit as my annual birthday yarn gift and struggled with the edging. The shawl has been sitting in a little box ever since and yesterday I pulled it out. A few more struggles with edging and I frogged that baby, and restarted with some Classic Elite Alpaca Lace yarn I had sitting around. I don’t know why but just the yarn change was enough to have everything fall into place for me. I have just completed the 21st edging point and will not discuss how it is going for fear of jinxing myself. Anyway imagine a picture of some scraggly gray fuzzy lace edging here and you have my current active WIP
yarny days and knitterly evenings
